Running the Kegbot Core

With your webserver online, you’re now ready to start sending drink and sensor data to it. To do this, you must run the Kegbot Core.

The “core” itself is actually separated into two programs:

• kegbot_core.py, the core kegbot daemon. It listens for sensor data on a local network interface, and reports it to the Kegweb service.
• kegboard_daemon.py, the program that talks to your kegboard. When it receives sensor data, it reports it to kegbot_core.

Starting kegbot_core.py

To launch kegbot_core, you will need to know two values:

• api_url: the URL of your kegweb’s API address, up to and including /api/.
• api_key: your secret API key, visible on the Account page.

Here’s an example of successfully launching the core:

% kegbot_core.py --api_url=http://localhost:8000/api/ --api_key=100000010457a3747caf2040b061851074517573
2011-12-30 12:31:11,057 INFO     (main) Kegbot is starting up.
2011-12-30 12:31:11,057 INFO     (env) Using web backend: http://localhost:8000/api/
2011-12-30 12:31:11,064 INFO     (main) Querying backend liveness.
2011-12-30 12:31:11,077 INFO     (main) Backend appears to be alive.
2011-12-30 12:31:11,077 INFO     (main) Found 2 taps, adding to tap manager.
2011-12-30 12:31:11,077 INFO     (tap-manager) Registering new tap: kegboard.flow0
2011-12-30 12:31:11,077 INFO     (tap-manager) Registering new tap: kegboard.flow1
2011-12-30 12:31:11,078 INFO     (main) Starting all service threads.
2011-12-30 12:31:11,078 INFO     (main) starting thread "service-thread"
2011-12-30 12:31:11,086 INFO     (main) starting thread "eventhub-thread"
2011-12-30 12:31:11,086 INFO     (main) starting thread "net-thread"
2011-12-30 12:31:11,086 INFO     (net-thread) network thread started
2011-12-30 12:31:11,087 INFO     (kegnet) Starting server on ('localhost', 9805)
2011-12-30 12:31:11,087 INFO     (main) starting thread "heartbeat-thread"
2011-12-30 12:31:11,088 INFO     (main) starting thread "watchdog-thread"
2011-12-30 12:31:11,088 INFO     (main) All threads started.

Tip

You can get usage information from most kegbot command-line programs by running the command with --help.

Most kegbot programs support the following common flags: --daemon, --verbose, and several others, listed in the “pykeg.core.kb_app” section of --help.

Testing your kegboard

Before you start reporting data, make sure your kegboard is working. Plug it in, and run the monitor:

% kegboard-monitor.py
2011-12-30 12:52:09,219 INFO     (main) Setting up serial port...
2011-12-30 12:52:09,236 INFO     (main) Starting reader loop...
2011-12-30 12:52:09,239 INFO     (kegboard-reader) Packet framing broken (found '\x00', expected 'K'); reframing.
2011-12-30 12:52:11,943 INFO     (kegboard-reader) Packet framing fixed.
<HelloMessage: firmware_version=8>
<TemperatureReadingMessage: sensor_name=thermo-7c0000009b596628 sensor_reading=22.875>

Running the monitor should cause your kegboard to reset and show something similar to the above. If you are having problems, you may need to specify --kegboard_device.

Running kegboard_daemon.py

You’re now ready to run the Kegbot daemon:

% kegboard_daemon.py
2011-12-30 12:55:41,064 INFO     (main) Starting all service threads.
2011-12-30 12:55:41,064 INFO     (main) starting thread "kegboard-manager"
2011-12-30 12:55:41,064 INFO     (kegboard-manager) Starting main loop.
2011-12-30 12:55:41,065 INFO     (main) starting thread "device-io"
2011-12-30 12:55:41,065 INFO     (device-io) Starting reader loop...
2011-12-30 12:55:41,065 INFO     (main) starting thread "kegnet"
2011-12-30 12:55:41,066 INFO     (kegnet) Connecting to localhost:9805
2011-12-30 12:55:41,066 INFO     (main) All threads started.
2011-12-30 12:55:41,067 INFO     (main) Running generic main loop (going to sleep).
2011-12-30 12:55:41,067 INFO     (kegboard-reader) Packet framing broken (found '\n', expected 'K'); reframing.
2011-12-30 12:55:41,068 INFO     (kegnet) Connected!
2011-12-30 12:55:43,770 INFO     (kegboard-reader) Packet framing fixed.
2011-12-30 12:55:43,771 INFO     (device-io) Found a Kegboard! Firmware version 8
2011-12-30 12:55:43,780 INFO     (kegboard-manager) RX: <HelloMessage: firmware_version=8>
2011-12-30 12:55:44,796 INFO     (kegboard-manager) RX: <TemperatureReadingMessage: sensor_name=thermo-7c0000009b596628 sensor_reading=24.1875>

As you can see, the daemon started up, connected to the kegbot_core.py process (listening on localhost:9805), and started receiving messages.

Navigate back to your kegbot_core process. You should see some new log messages from the kegboard daemon:

2011-12-30 12:55:41,068 INFO     (kegnet) Remote host connected: 127.0.0.1:58321
2011-12-30 12:55:44,833 INFO     (thermo-manager) Recording temperature sensor=kegboard.thermo-7c0000009b596628 value=24.1875
2011-12-30 12:55:44,833 INFO     (thermo-manager) Additional readings will only be shown with --verbose

If you’re running the standalone webserver in another window, you should see the core posting new temperature readings via the web api:

[30/Dec/2011 12:55:45] "POST /api/thermo-sensors/kegboard.thermo-7c0000009b596628/ HTTP/1.1" 200 133
[30/Dec/2011 12:55:47] "POST /api/thermo-sensors/kegboard.thermo-7c0000009b596628/ HTTP/1.1" 200 131

Now try pouring a drink!